China is ramping up trade-war tensions after Trump's tariff threat, saying it will 'fight to the end'

Theron MohamedJun 11, 2019, 14:19 IST

U.S. President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping arrive at a state dinner at the Great Hall of the People in BeijingReuters

China has pledged to "fight to the end" if the US continues to escalate the trade war.

President Donald Trump threatened to expand tariffs of 25% to virtually all Chinese goods if his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, failed to meet him at the G-20 meeting in Japan at the end of the month.

"If the United States only wants to escalate trade frictions, we will resolutely respond and fight to the end."

The comments came after President Donald Trump threatened to immediately expand tariffs to virtually all Chinese goods if his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, fails to meet him at the G-20 meeting in Japan at the end of the month.

"We're expected to meet and if we do that's fine, and if we don't -- look, from our standpoint the best deal we can have is 25% on $600 billion," Trump told CNBC on Monday.

Trump has already slapped duties on $250 billion of imports from China, and said he could impose tariffs of 25% or "much higher" on a further $300 billion. Products in the firing line include smartphones, laptops, TVs, computer monitors, video-game consoles, and flash drives.

Despite the looming threat of tariffs, Asian stocks rose on Tuesday following the Chinese government's latest attempt to boost the domestic economy. It said it would allow local governments to use special bonds to finance major public works such as highways, railways, and energy projects, according to Reuters.

"Equities are continuing their remarkable relief rally as investors put trade war concerns to one side and double down on bets the Fed will ride the rescue," said Neil Wilson, chief market analyst for Markets.com.

"But we caution not to rely on either playing out precisely how the bulls would like."

Here's the market roundup as of 9.38 a.m. (4.38 a.m. ET):

Asian stocks jumped with the Shanghai Composite up 2.6%, the SZSE Component up 3.7%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng up 0.7%.

European equities climbed in morning trading with Germany's DAX up 1.2%, Britain's FTSE 100 up 0.5%, and the Euro Stoxx 50 up 0.9%.

US markets are set to open higher with futures underlying the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 up 0.4%, and Nasdaq futures up 0.6%.

Crude oil inched upward with West Texas Intermediate crude up 1.1% at $53.80, and Brent crude up 0.4% at $62.50.